[ad_1] What’s the single most overlooked, misunderstood—and yet important—part of storytelling? If you read the post title, you already know the answer is story structure. Twelve years ago, I shared the series “Secrets of Story Structure” on this site. That series became the basis of one of my best-known writing-craft books, Structuring Your Novel. That […]

[ad_1] Hooray! Today, I am so happy to be sharing with you not one but two book launches—a revised and expanded second edition of Structuring Your Novel and a brand-new “sequel” Next Level Plot Structure. (And be sure to check out the giveaway for a Freewrite Alpha at the bottom of the post.) If you want to write […]

[ad_1] Every person or character, at any given time, is in a particular mood. Generally, mood is a person’s state of mind, but it’s more than that. Mood can also describe the disposition of a collective of people, a certain time in history, or the ether of a place. We writers need to learn how […]

[ad_1] Hello, everyone, and welcome! In today’s post/podcast/video, we’re going to be talking about what is very possibly the single most important element of any successful story. And that is the Lie the Character Believes. The Lie the Character Believes is a mistaken or limited perspective the character holds at the beginning of the story […]

[ad_1] Balancing the pursuit of creative writing with the demands of daily life is a nuanced challenge. Juggling life and writing isn’t easy without strategies that can help us maintain creative focus amid life’s myriad distractions. Whether you’re dealing with the pressures of work, familial responsibilities, or the never-ending lure of digital devices, writers everywhere […]

[ad_1] Do you struggle with crafting realistic, complex characters? Have others told you that your characters are flat, stereotypic, or lacking uniqueness? It may be that you haven’t thought through your characters’ inner conflict or developed enough hurt or even trauma in their past to cause them to realistically struggle with decisions and feelings about […]

[ad_1] Hello and welcome! Today’s question is from Grace Clay who asks: I would like more advice about transitions, please. In particular, transitioning out of big set pieces. The best books—well, my favorite books—tend to follow up their massive orchestral scenes with something a little more contemplative to let the audience catch their breaths, but […]

[ad_1] Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:11:35 — 58.0MB) Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More What are some of the common fears that writers face? How can we work through them in order to create more freely? Caroline Donahue gives her tips in this interview. In the intro, How to avoid indie author scams [ALLi; […]

[ad_1] [From KMW: I’m taking a quick sabbatical this week. I’ll be back next Monday with a video/post/podcast about “Scene Structure and Transitions in Big Scenes.” Until then, I hope you enjoy this short post on an important topic!] I have a little game I play when reading a book or watching a movie, especially […]

[ad_1] When you ask a fiction writer what her story is about, she will usually explain the plot. Yes, plot is what the story is about, but theme is what the story is really about, simmering below the plot. In this post we’ll look at 3 ways to infuse your story with theme. Do you […]